Genesis Is Giving The G70 The Boot: Report

The Genesis G70 is probably the closest any automaker has come to recreating the excellent driving feel of the legendary BMW 3 Series. It’s very good. But apparently not too many customers are showing up for those excellent driving dynamics. A report from Korean outlet Korea JoongAng Daily says that Genesis is planning to pull the plug on the G70 due to sales.

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Genesis surprised the automotive world with the G70. Here was an excellent sport sedan from a brand that had been around for just over a decade, created by a brand that used to be a joke (Hyundai). Built on a platform shared with the equally excellent Kia Stinger, buyers could choose between rear or all-wheel drive and two engines: a turbocharged I4 or a twin-turbo 365 horsepower V6. It went on sale for the 2019 model year here in the U.S., with a refresh in 2022.

But like some other models in this segment, the G70 has never performed well on the sales charts. Just 12,649 were sold last year; just over 7,000 have been sold so far in 2023. Sales of the G70 are worse in Korea, falling every year since 2019: just 6,087 were sold in Korea in 2022 with just 2,099 sold so far in 2023. European sales are even worse according to data provided by Korea JoongAng Daily: only 96 were sold in 2022. All this is enough, sources say, to axe the G70 and its next generation:

“Recently, there was an official announcement within the company that it officially halted the development of RN2, a project name for the next G70,” a source directly related to the project said.

“This is the first time Hyundai announced the halt, although there were so many rumors about the temporary halt [of the development],” the source added. “Weak sales is the main reason.”

The source says the next generation that was in development was set to be launched as an EV and apparently was much larger than the current car — large enough that it wouldn’t have made sense to have both the G70 and larger G80. This was apparently another reason to stop development of the next gen.

“In the early stages of development, the next G70 was about to get much bigger than the current model,” the source said. “But in that case, it will not be notably different from G80, and that’s why Hyundai decided to drop the project.” Hyundai/Genesis declined to comment on future model plans.

SUV and crossover sales haven’t helped the G70’s situation either, with the GV70 outselling its sedan cousin in the U.S. and Korea. Korea JoongAng Daily says that Genesis is planning to expand it’s lineup of SUVs soon, with a GV80 Coupe and an even larger GV90 coming in 2025.